Barclays Review

Overview

Review date: 10th March 2013

The Bottom line: Following feedback from their customers, Barclays have redesigned and re-launched their bank account statements. The new-look statements have been made simpler and easier to use to ensure you can quickly see the information you need from them.

The Good

The Bad

Following feedback from their customers, Barclays have redesigned and re-launched their bank account statements. The new-look statements have been made simpler and easier to use to ensure you can quickly see the information you need from them.

Barclay’s use the same format for both their online and postal statements, so this makes it very easy to move from one to the other.

The first page gives you a quick summary of your account and if you’re not bothered about transactions, then this is all you’ll need to look at. Your account number, sort code, overdraft and period that the statement is covering are clearly displayed at the top right of the statement.

Below this you can see your balance at the start of the period, money coming in, money going out and finally your closing balance. A simple of use of colour and layout makes this summary very easy to read, and this format will also apply to all previous statements.

Information contained in the transaction pages hasn’t really changed, though they have made a few subtle but useful updates. Transactions are now shaded every other line to make reading a bit easier, and the addition of symbols allows you to quickly see what type of transaction it is.

With the recent focus in the media around banking charges, Barclay’s have made the smart move to make their charges a bit more visible by separating them out into their own section, and detailing exactly what they are.